Friday, May 05, 2017

Canisius baseball heads to Iona for final road weekend

Canisius baseball takes to the road for the final time in 2017 regular season, as the squad heads to New Rochelle to take on Iona in a three-game series. The two teams will matchup in a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at noon, before wrapping up the series on Sunday, with the finale also slated for noon.

Canisius comes into the contest with a 26-18 overall mark and a 9-6 MAAC record, and currently sits fourth in the conference standings. Meanwhile the Iona Gaels sit a spot ahead of the Golden Griffins, tied with Marist with a 10-5 MAAC record.

The Griffs remain of the best offensive teams in the league, posting the second-best batting average in the league, with a .276 mark, and the having plated the most runs in the MAAC, with 257 having crossed the dish this season.

The Gaels on the other hand are ninth in the conference in batting average with a mark of .254 mark, while the team is second-to-last in runs having plated 175 this season.

Both the Griffs and Gaels are middle of the pack in team earned run average. Canisius has a slight edge with a average of 4.37, while the Gaels have a mark of 4.69.

When it comes to keeping hits to a minimum, the Blue and Gold rank third in the conference in hits allowed per nine innings with a average of 8.89, while Iona is fifth with a mark of 9.31.

The Griffs leader in batting average, Jake Lumley is ranked fourth in the MAAC with his average of .358. He also leads the league in total hits with 64. Canisius catcher Christ Conley leads the conference in on-base percentage reaching base 46 percent.

The Gaels have players ranked on the pitching side of things with Patrick Ryan and Bill Maier, ranking third and sxith in ERA with marks of 2.42 and 2.78, respectively.

The leagues' two save leaders face off against each other in this series, with Tyler Smith and Jared Finkel coming into the series with eight apiece.

Following this weekend's series the Griffs return home for the rest of the season, playing the final seven games of the regular season at the Demske Sports Complex. Canisius will host a pair of MAAC series, taking on Manhattan and closing out with rival Niagara.